Charles f



(No Model.)

0. F. LAWTO-N, METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BEER.

No. 468,809. Patented Feb. 16, 1892. l'l I I l K mgu \lil I i h =a=x=winwm mu, 1 .l 11M,

H P3 J14 F N 1' A MH HWH id 1 7 J R Q I Tmnwsea: 5 3 Inventor:

9W a M A 5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. LAIVTON, OF ROCHESTER, NEIV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ROBERT I-I.SALMONS, OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BEER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. &68,SO9, dated February16, 1892.

Application filed October 3, 1890. Serial No. 366,950. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. LAWTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residin g at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method ofand Apparatus for the Manufacture of Beer, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus for themanufacture of beer; and it consists in various features hereferment.

I will now describe the preferred form of apparatus for carrying out myprocess, as

represented in the annexed figure, which is an elevation of theapparatus mainly sectioned in a vertical plane.

A indicates an air-filter comprising a me tallic vessel A, filled withclean cotton.

B indicates a pump communicating with the filter by a pipe a, having avalve a, and

communicating also by means of a pipe a" with the bottom of a strongmetallic vessel' C, which is filled with asbestus or sand, as at c. Apipe 0, having a valve d, extends from the top of the vessel 0 to avessel D, while from the vessel D extends a pipe d, having a valve 6.The vessel 0 is surrounded by a jacket 0, while the vessel D issurrounded by a similar jacket D, the spaces between the vessels and thejackets being filled with any suitable non-conductor of heat. The pipesa," and c" are likewise jacketed, so as to prevent the heated air or gasfrom being cooled. The pipe (1', extending from the lower end of thecompressed air reservoir D, communicates with a coil or manifold E, uponwhich water from a pan or receptacle f is designed to fall to cool thegas or air under pressure. This manifold or coil communicates with apipe 70, extending along beneath the tuns or vats G G, while branchpipes it, having valves Z, extend from the pipe 7:; up through thebottom of the tuns, where they are provided with finely-perforated armsg. The tuns are provided with covers WV, havingdownwardlyturnededgestodipintoaliquidinatrough W, secured to the tuns,as shown, the liquid being advisably combined with an antiseptic to pre-5 5 vent any foreign ferments passing into the interior of the tuns.Tuns G are further provided with funnels i, having valves 10, by meansof which the tuns may be filled; but instead of the funnels the verticalpipe 7b may be used for filling. Opening into the top of the tuns is a Ushaped pipe 3, which communicates at its outer end with a pipe M,extending over all of the tuns. This pipe extends downward to the dripreceiver or reservoir O and intersects the pipe at and is provided oneach side of the pipe 0; with a valve R R. NVhen it is desired tocompress and force into the wort a gas different from common air, thevalves a and R will be closed and the valve R on the pipe N opened. Thisbranch pipe N, whose whole length is not shown, communicates with theholder con taining the gas that is to be pumped into thefermenting-wort.

The tuns G will each be provided with a thermometerj, by means of whichthe temperature of the wort may be readily determined.

Surrounding the air and gas pump B is a tank 19, which may be partlyfilled with water when the pump is being rapidly worked at a highpressure. This water preventsthe lower part of the barrel of the pumpand the piston inside of it from heating to that degree as to causecutting of the working parts. As the compressed air passes so quicklyout of the pump, this cooling of the outside of the barrel of the pumpwill not materially lower the temperature of the compressed air that isdriven into the second air-filter C and compressed-air receiver D.

Should it be desired to aerate new hot wort recently let into one orseveral of the fermenting-tuns, or should it be desired to aerate, cool,and purify fermenting wort that has become unclean or sickened, or showssigns of becoming so, then the valves R, R,

filter C and receiver D rapidly beats it, together with the walls of thecontaining-vessels, surrounded, as they are, by non-conductors, to sucha temperature as to destroy noxious ferment-germs. The first of the airthat is run through the manifold E and pipe it from the com pressed-airreceiver D is allowed to escape without being run into the wort, asusual. This is to get rid of stagnant air that may have lain in themanifoldE or pipe 7c.

Thecompressed-air filter 0 being packed with asbestos or fine sand, theheat evolved by the compression does not char or set fire to it, as itwould if the filter O was packed with cotton like the filter A, which isnot subjected to compressed air.

The valve e, (leading from the compressedair receiver D to the manifoldE,) havingbut a small opening when used with compressed air, preventsany back-circulation into receiverD of cooled compressed airin manifoldE or pipe 713. Without covering the com pressed-air filter O andcompressed-air reservoir D with a thick coat of non-heat-conductingmaterial the compression of the air in these vessels would not heat itsuffieiently to properly sterilize it.

When everything is ready for the use of the compressed and sterilizedair, the valvesZ of one or more of the fermenting-tuns are very slightlyopened, and the air escaping through this. valve up into the wortexpands and consequently absorbs heat while in --the immediate presenceof the beer or wort .to be cooled and aerated. By this means therefrigerating effect of the compressed air is obtained with the greatestpossible economy of power and plant, and aeration is obtainedsimultaneously with cooling, which is of considerable advantage, as coldair is more freely absorbed by watery liquids than is warm air.Thepreviously-strained hot wort is run from the vessel, Where it hasbeen boiled down with the hops, by a flexible pipe or hose to the funnel11, through which it enters the tuns. As soon as the tun is filled tothe proper height the stream of boiling wort is shut off and the valveto in the funnel closed. The hot wort is left in the vtun until the heatit carries has killed such injurious ferments as might adhere to theinside-of the tun and its cover and such germs as might be on or in thepipes g and h. This large body of heated wort will remain very hot for along time; but'after it has stood long enough to kill the germs ofinjurious ferments the strongly-compressed -tanks, but withoutsterilization.

qeaeoe out introducing ferments that would spoil it. Besides the usualmethods of cooling hot wort, it is exposed to all the contaminatinginfluence of ordinary unpurified air. Besides sustaining the properyeast ferment, the aeration of the beer with purified or sterilized airkills that most dangerous and troublesome of all sickness in beer andale known as the butyric, as I have learned by many experiments. Afterthe tun has been filled with hot wort the valve to of the funnel 11 isclosed and the funnel filled with boiling-hot water; but after thewortis cooled sufficiently to admit of the yeast being added the valve to isopened and the Water that was standing in the funnel allowed to run intothe tun, and then the liquid yeast, as-pure as may be obtained,'is runinto the cooled wort through the same funnel. The yeast can now bestirred or mixed up with the wort by injecting a little more air intothe bottom of the tun. Air and gaspassing from the tun escape by meansof the branch or U-shaped pipe Z into the pipe M. The pump may be workedat a pressure of from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventypounds, (more or less,) which will raise the temperature of the air thusbeing compressed to 400 Fahrenheit and upward.

WVhen I speak of anair-pump, I mean to include a pump that may be usedfor forcing either air or gas, or both, i nto the tuns.

I am aware that it has been proposed to filter the air introduced intothe fermentingvats; that it has also been proposed to calcine the air onits .way to the wortbymeans of a flame playingvupon a copper tubethrough which the-air passes, and, finally, that it'has been proposed tolead purifiedair which has been cooled to about 5 centigrade and isunder feeble pressure into the fermenting- .The first of thesepropositions contemplates nothing more than is secured by the use of myfilter A- to wit, the removal of dust and like impurities. The secondcontemplates merely the heating of the air by a flame andwithoutretaining it in a vessel sufficiently long to secure the perfectsterilization, which is so essential to the successful carrying out ofmy process. While the third plan proposed contemplates only afeeble'pressure, which cannot effect a heating to the air and therebycause its sterilization.

Among the advantages claimed for my process is that it is carried out bya simple and compact apparatus by means of which new hot wort may becooled in the tuns where it is to befermented, and this, too,without-exposure to common unpurified air, whereas by the usual methodsof cooling hot wort it is aerated, it is true; but the aeration is slowand in open vats and the apparatus costly and cumbersome.

Another advantage resides in the faetthat the c'oolingis done in such away as to effect of power both in cooling new hot Wort and in coolingfermenting wort. Furthermore, by surrounding the compressedair filterand compressed-air reservoir with a thick non-conductor of heat andfilling the compressed-air filter with non-combustible filteringmaterial I am enabled to heat the air sufficiently to purify'orsterilize it bythe same apparatus and machinery used to refrigerate andaerate the wort or beer, and this, too, in a single continuousoperation. WVhile, therefore, I am aware that the filtering and heatingof the air to be injected and the use of feebly-compressed air havebefore been proposed, I am not aware that any or all of these ideas havebeen practically carried out or applied, nor that the air has beenfiltered under compression, nor that the air has been brought to'such ahigh temperature by compression and retained long enough inthiscondition to effect its sterilization.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The improvementin the process of manufacturing beer, 850., which consists in raisingthe temperature of a body of air by highly compressing it and confiningit in this condition until the sterilization shall have been effectedand thencooling the air and injecting fold E, a water-supply f, and apipe 70, leading from the coil to the vats, all substantially as shown.

4:. In combination withan air pump or compressor B, an air-filter A,applied to the supply-pipe thereof, an air-filter 0, applied to thedischarge-pipe of the pump, a compressed-air receiver D, a cooling coilor manifold connected with the receiver, the tuns or vats, and suitableconnecting-pipes.

I11 Witness whereof I hereunto set my hand in the'presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES F. LAWTON. Witnesses:

CHARLES VAN VooRHIs, ARTHUR W. LAw'roN.

